The Burden of Freedom

#philosophy #ontology #curiosity #freedom #existentialism #curiosity

The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (sarchra) states that humans are condemned to be free. I thought freedom was what we wanted? Why would freedom be a condemnation? Well turns out freedom is overwhelming and most people don’t want to be free. Let me explain.

With freedom comes the burden and weight of moral responsibility. That weight and responsibility is often so overwhelming we offload it in a variety of ways. Here are 3 of those ways: role identification, a belief in determinism, and dependence on authority. Each way forces us to give up our ability to live authentically as our true selves. We give up our freedom.

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[ethanstuart]

I had a coworker that had 5 pairs of the same pants and shirt (black jeans and black t-shirt) because of what he called "decision fatigue". Very thought provoking to think of how I'm offloading responsibilities in my own life in ways I view as less healthy

[robke]

Hi,

Thanks for the video :)

The algorithm served me up your video and the catchy title caught my eye as I've been re-visiting this concept recently.

One angle I'd like to bring into discussion (which my mind kept thinking about as listening to your video) is that, whilst I equally enjoy the philosophy of Satre (existentialism in general) with its unapolagetic stance on the fact we are the captains of our ship ... it seems a little one sided now that I re-visit it.

I remember reading Satre and other existentialists in my early 20s and it really captivated me, even liberated me - to some extent.

However, it feels like its a very individualistic analysis / response to the problem of totalising freedom, or as Fromm puts it in his "the art of loving"; the fundamental human problem is one of seperateness.

Whilst true that we are "free" to choose within our given contexts of life, we as individuals, don't live in a vacuum.

We are social creatures that are influenced by others, not to mention various power structures that prevent self autonomy, that prevent people from feeling empowered, supported, cared for.

The point being is that things like the dominant socio-economic ideology will play a significant, if not a dominant role, in shaping our context in which we then have to grapple with the concept of "freedom" within. That is to say, we shouldn't over-emphasise that there is a "natural tendency" in humans to submit to authority, etc. For example, our conception & relationship to work is inherintly alienating under Capitalism, but it not need be so (we'll bracket that for another discussion). Our cities, the values preached by mainstream culture, the ever increasing inequality, etc. All of these reduce the space of positive flourishing.

So, whilst true, that you can argue that in any given context, however dire & depressing, *you* technically can choose to act authentically, this analysis doesn't take into account the context in which the challange is put up in.

I recently finished reading Erich Fromm's "Escape from freedom", if you've not read, i'd recommend. Gives this topic a psychological / sociological lens. Fromm argues similarly that people try to escape freedom in 3 different ways (self-destruction, conformity, submission to authority) but situates this discussion in the given context of Capitalism and its historical relationship to freedom.

Lastly, and sorry for this very zig-zagging stream-of-consciousness ramble, but it also made me think (related to what i mentioned above), that the idea of 'power', i.e. the degree of one's ability to self-actualise, etc. is equally relavent in this discussion.

In short, existentialism is great at liberating us to some extent, but we need to go further and expand that from an individualistic analysis/response to a collective one. To ask the question of how can we collectively strive for a world where more and more people are empowered, nurtured to become more confident & supported to exercise their authentic freedom.

Thanks and have a nice day ✌️